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What do you think of ski TO's new site (comments ?)

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Wayne, you're probably getting the message that if you want a professional job get a professional to do it. Much as you might like playing with code it is not your core business. Better to spend the time earning the money to pay the designer.

You could offer the tender for the work on snowHead s rather than a competition?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
The 'live' version is much improved on that on 'test' link at the start of the thread.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
OK then - I fully understand I am cr*p at web design - I am OK with the codes but it's the looking good stuff I'm just not too good at (at all)

So if there are any site designers reading this you may want to have a look at this

http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/web/thread/e85a149b-f448-4652-aeef-b272a086071f

The reason I have placed it on that forum as that I answer question from microsoft regarding VBA, SQL, etc, on other MS sites - no pay but loads of freebees.

So there you go, if you're looking for some work, have a read.


Oh, if you get the job, be prepared for SH's to comment on your work wink

You can just PM if you want rather than using that email address
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
My two cents here Wayne...

I would steer clear of Microsoft technologies when looking for a website to be developed. I'm a little confused as to why you've gravitated towards it. If you want to get your site to the 21st Century, don't use shitty programs like expression web and Access databases.

I would suggest you find a designer who knows either Ruby on Rails or jQuery very well, and use MySQL as the database. Popular, continuously updated open source software is the way forward here. Alternatively, go down the content management system route; Joomla, WordPress, etc. There are very nice looking templates out there that you could implement, or could get someone to sort out for you, and you could easily maintain it.

And remember to always know how you will maintain it, and what you will do when something breaks when looking for a designer.

As for the site, please don't use inline CSS or tables Sad
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Timmaah wrote:
Alternatively, go down the content management system route; Joomla, WordPress, etc.


^ This
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Timmaah, exactly. WordPress with some additional database work would make a lot of sense.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I've been using Modx for this type of thing.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Here's my entry to the competition.

http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2&music=6&url=http://www.folgarida.co.uk/new_site/
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Laughing Laughing
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Laughing
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
On another point we tend to use Microsoft "stuff" as it really is the only set of truly linked programmes.

A little bit of backend VBA will drag the website into the whole admin setup and just means everything runs together, so reducing our admin costs.

Now I not for one minute saying this can't be done with bespoke software but we, like many small TO's simply can't afford bespoke (unless I write it), so we use what's out there and that means MS. I don't have the time (and can't be bothered) to re-invent the wheel.

Also this has another major benefit and that is that I know who to write the code that will link every bit of software we use together. You may not like VBA/SQL and I am again not saying it is the best option but it is the one we use, so why change.

Just one little point to note about our website - it works.

We fill the beds and flight seats we book.

We sell "fully" inclusive holidays at Half Term for around £800 and at other times for under £700. That's what sells the trips not the website design. Of course a reasonable look is important but there are many, many sites out there that whilst they may look brilliant just don’t do what are they mean to.

I think Puzzled

*******************************
Oh yeah Mr Piehole, point taken about the Green Text. You're right and I have changed all the links to blue.

It's getting there, slowly wink
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Wayne, I'm a bit confused as you came on here to get critique but seem a little peeved that you got some Confused

You speak about admin costs.. all the solutions I suggested are free. They're open source. There is no admin costs, what's even better is that there's a huge community out there who have gone through all the issues you will encounter and who have documented how to get around it. Proprietary software is a silly thing to use in web development (except for Photoshop but even then there are alternatives).

I love SQL. It's a great logical language.

To be honest, the site that you have up at the moment is alright, the one you linked to is not. I'm merely giving you comments by the way so don't take this the wrong way!

There will be a time though when you need to update the website. Especially the booking part, that is the worst part in my opinion. I recently booked a bunch of lodges for my next holiday, and anyone where I was unable to view/book online I just didn't bother with. The fact that you don't have a booking form to get emailed is also a bit odd. Why should I make the extra effort to pay them money if they can't be bothered to get their website up to speed? Why is the hotel availability an extra click away if I can't book online? Why isn't it on the same page?

I would suggest you look at your website not as a business owner but as a user who has got 5-10 tabs of different chalets open, why should they choose yours? Is your website convenient and easy to use? Can they easily book on? How do they know the availability is up to date if everything on the page is just dynamic?
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Timmaah wrote:
Wayne, I'm a bit confused as you came on here to get critique but seem a little peeved that you got some Confused


Sorry if I came over like that, I didn't mean to. I honestly do want people to tell me what they think - even if they thing what I've done is cr*p Toofy Grin .

I am in 2 "industries" that are probably the only ones left that have two things that used to be common.

I run the (by far) the largest outdoor pursuits company in the UK - eg. 60,000 (yep sixty thousand) people have taken part in our Fort William trips in the last 20 years. 25,000 people have used been on our climbing courses - did I mention that we are the only private outdoor pursuits company to actually own the crags they use for courses, etc, etc.
So what has this to do with the new ski website ? - simple, it means that we are not very PC. Mountaineering in the last non PC industry left. It stems from the saying "you got yourself up here, so you get yourself off". ie. It wasn’t the teacher’s fault or your parents, or society’s, or, etc, etc, you are responsible so sort it out.
I don't get offend by much.

Next I teach physics. If one days I say that X=Y, but someone tells me that it can't as X+Y=Z and Z=X then I know I was wrong as you have proved it, I don't upset as I was wrong I just absorb the new realities (of the value of XY & Z) and carry on.
What I was pointing (obviously badly) is that we use Microsoft integrated systems, and that will not change just because we want a new web site. The new site MUST integrate with the rest of the admin set-up. I "may" use SQL server as the backend data holder, but I would rather use an access table, for the simply reason is that I'm a bit thick and can't be bothered learning anything else.

The good news is that I have spoken to quite a few people today who are interested in creating all or parts of a website for us - that should be better than my feeble attempts wink .


Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much on Mon 5-11-12 18:31; edited 1 time in total
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Good luck, thanks for clearing it up snowHead
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Timmaah wrote:
As for the site, please don't use inline CSS or tables Sad


Why ?
Sorry I'm not an expert like Admin so I would like to know why I should not use tables
I can't think of any other way to display some info


Have a look at the Prices pages of the new site - how on earth would you do that without a table Puzzled
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Sorry, I should've been more specific! I meant don't use tables to set the layout of your page. Using tables to show data is perfectly fine of course. Before CSS got big, people placed everything in a multitude of tables to design the layout.

Inline CSS is just a bad practise. Put all your CSS in external files, link to it in the <head></head> part of the site. This greatly reduces code duplication,makes editing the page a lot simpler, improves maintainability, and marginally makes page load time quicker.
So rather than writing inline CSS for 5 row items, you could make a CSS class: .spaghetti
and then just do <tag> rather than <tag> and have to re-edit the next 5 lines.

Now on re-reading I see the question was just on tables Very Happy
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's getting there (slowly)

Decided to do it myself as:
I like learning how to do new "stuff"
The quotes I got were (all) way too much - some of them were for more the profit for an entire season
I firmly believe that in-house should always the first option if possible

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes I know some of the CSS is still in line (will move it once it all works)
Some of the pages are not done yet, and many that are still need the pictures adding

It has not been spell-checked/grammer-checked yet Shocked

The forms have not been put on the secure server yet



What do you think?
http://www.brentaski.com/index.html


Oh and I have no control over the snow-forecast page
There is only a 78% chance of snow today - do the Italian met office never look out of the window, as it's bogging down right now
Puzzled
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Not a fan of the 2/4 border thing but looks good considering its in house and you're new to it all! Better than the last one for sure.

I would have a look at changing the top white part. Make the font different? Links a bit more interesting? Maybe add a little image next to them that represents it. And add an extra line in the Madonna di... so they're both even. An easy way to do this is to insert space by using comments which the forum strips out.. but just typical HTML comments.


Which will show nothing to the user but make an extra line, alternatively a <br> might do it as well.

Some pictures in the resort info (I know you mentioned this NehNeh )would be nice with maybe larger headings? Again, the text font looks a bit too default.

The hotel details page have text on background rather than on white, I prefer this style but I would stick with one for the whole site, whichever way you decide. On the hotel details page, would be nice if the thumbnails were clickable to go to larger images. Check out things like lightbox for this.[/code]
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
It's done

OK it's not fully complete yet - but it's up and running.

Still got the secure server certificate to sort out in the first few days after New Year (not sure why they won't send it now)

Toofy Grin

Oh and we are only taking bookings for next season which is why the dates may look weird rolling eyes
And I can't work out how to shift people from site to site so I have cheated and just put up 2 sites Shocked
www.folgarida.co.uk and www.brentaski.com (they are "almost" the same) - I'll work out how to do it the next couple of weeks.



Many thanks to all the snowHead's for the feedback, tips, codes, slagging-off, pointers, etc
without your input the new site would still be brown (which I still think is a nice colour).


Still needs fully proof-reading though wink ?????????????
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Wayne, Just a quicky(sic), The 'button' looking headers above the pictures on the home page need to link to the appropriate pages. It's instinctive today to click on things that look as though they should be buttons and frustrating when they aren't.

Look to your language style; At the moment it's a bit 'hectoring' (teachy/preachy). It's dead, almost sterile information with little warmth and invitation, it takes any sense of fun or excitement out of the site and some of the seemingly humour . . . isn't.

There are many fine writers on snowHeads, why not offer a competition with a ski holiday as the prize for a more . . . 'exciting read'. Rules would have to state that all the same/appropriate subject matter be included and all pages/content be submitted . . . but there are some snippets in there that really should be in the editor's 'file 13' Evil or Very Mad

There are some glaring visual inconsistencies (well to me, but I'm a fussy graphic designer) that could do with tidying up but a good effort. . . . brown? Evil or Very Mad

Just some thoughts.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Masque wrote:
Wayne, Just a quicky(sic), The 'button' looking headers above the pictures on the home page need to link to the appropriate pages. It's instinctive today to click on things that look as though they should be buttons and frustrating when they aren't.


You know what – I love advice that’s actually good; and it's even better when it's free.

I didn’t realised they looked like buttons, but you’re right they do. I just thought they were a nice bit of CSS

The looky-likey buttons have been change to hyperlinks
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Wayne wrote:
You know what – I love advice that’s actually good; and it's even better when it's free.


Booger . . . well that's 1/2 a transfer earned Toofy Grin
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Masque wrote:
There are many fine writers on snowHeads, why not offer a competition


I'll have a word with Admin to see what the snowHead's rules are about those types of things.

I did get a reet-snoty-snooty-grrrrrrr PM once from one of the mods about another post a few years back rolling eyes - so will ask 1st


Hang on just a mo.
Do you think people would prefer a fully inclusive ski holiday or (my preferred choice if I won) a free day in Wigan with a free pork pie dinner.
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Wayne, There are some here for whom Wigan and pork pies are synonymous with the words "stresser incident" & "inappropriate behavious"

And you lost some at "free pork pie dinner" Toofy Grin
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
This is much better than the other one.

I'm viewing it on iPad - amd one tng I would say is that your two resort boxes - the blue of the hyperlink blends in to the blue of the box, so it's quite difficult to read the resort names.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
RibenaRockstar wrote:
the blue of the hyperlink blends in to the blue of the box, so it's quite difficult to read the resort names.



Oooops Embarassed

Forgot to upload the linked index.css

Try it now (refresh your page) and it should be white


Dam web thingies, way too complex for an old person like me rolling eyes
Why can’t we just go back to quill and ink – never a problem once you’d tied it to carrier pigeon's leg like when I wuz-a-lad
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Server Error




404 - File or directory not found.

The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
1969jma wrote:
Server Error

Works for me.

Are you putting in the correct URL.

It "should" work Puzzled
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